Hard though it may be to believe, a 3-year-old filly trained by Chad Brown has never won the GIII Rubicon Valley View S. at Keeneland, but Dolce Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) appears to be equipped to be the one to get the conditioner on the board Friday afternoon.
Winner of the GIII Florida Oaks in her U.S. debut in March, the bay was runner-up to future GISW Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}) in this track's course-and-distance GII Appalachian S. Apr. 9 and got a bit of a freshening following a third in Churchill's GIII Edgewood S. May 6. Back to winning ways in the GII Lake George S. at Saratoga July 22, Dolce Zel and five others were undressed by front-running stablemate Haughty (Empire Maker) in the GII Lake Placid S. Aug. 20 and settled for second. Irad Ortiz, Jr., the only rider she's known in this country, is back in the irons.
California Angel (California Chrome) caused a 17-1 upset in the GII Jessamine S. at this venue 54 weeks ago and is winless in six subsequent tries, though she has not run poorly. Runner-up in the Mar. 12 LaCombe Memorial S. at the Fair Grounds, the chestnut returned from a six-month vacation to be third in the Sept. 5 Dueling Grounds Oaks, whose runner-up Skims (GB) (Frankel {GB}) returned to win the GII Sands Point S. at Aqueduct. She backs up on 13 days' rest, having been beaten just two lengths into fourth behind Dolce Zel's stablemate Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) in the GI QE II Cup.
Bubble Rock (More Than Ready) was among the best turf sprinters of her generation last season, with a victory in the GIII Matron S. The Shortleaf homebred proved she could handle a route of ground when taking out the one-mile Cincinnati Trophy over the Turfway all-weather in March and she was surely in need of the run when a weakening sixth in the 6 1/2-furlong Music City S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 13.
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